New bill might allow sports betting, slot machines at Power and Light
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KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Power and Light’s KC Live! has long hosted packed watch parties for big sporting events. Soon you might be able to gamble on those games at Power and Light too.
Monday, a Missouri House committee passed a bill related to sports wagering and video lottery game terminals, or VLTs, lottery-style games that look a lot like slot machines.
The bill adds fraternal organizations, veteran’s organization, and truck stops to spots allowed for those games and allows sports betting at riverboat casinos and local websites.
A late-day amendment then expanded potential locations for both kinds of gambling to include Power and Light as well as Ballpark Village in Saint Louis.
“I really wouldn’t care one way or another. It doesn’t really matter to me,” Theodore Troll who was in Downtown Kansas City said.
“I don’t think it would draw me here because I don’t even visit casinos in the first place,” resident Maddie Unruh said.
The bill’s sponsor, Dan Shaul, of Imperial, Missouri, says the language includes any entertainment district that’s made an investment of $200 million or more.
Power and Light and the Saint Louis location are the only venues he could think of that fit that definition, and yes, they are both owned by the Cordish Companies, but Shaul insists it was not Cordish that approached him, it was several “sporting entities,” he said, which he was not ready to name.
KCTV5 News met a few people in Missouri who were hesitant to celebrate the idea. One Overland Park woman worried faces on screens could cut out the social aspect of these establishments.
“Nowadays society is becoming so nuclear. We need to talk to each other,” Chanchal Rai said.
“As long as the proceeds get kicked back into the city for development, whether it’s urban development or educational development, I’m totally cool with that,” Northland resident Mario Pabaroue said.
As it stands, 30% of profits go to the state education fund and 5% to local communities.
But details could change as it makes its way through the full house, which Shaul expects will happen in a matter of weeks.
In a statement to KCTV5 News, a spokesperson from Cordish said, “We believe this is a very exciting opportunity to increase revenues to the State of Missouri and the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City while enhancing the entertainment experience at Ballpark Village and the Power & Light District for our millions of annual guests."
